original story:
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2005/05/12/news/news01.txt

Student residents and permanent residents of the University Hill neighborhood will have to start paying more attention to the maintenance of their property starting sometime this summer.

The program is still in the works, but in a month or so, community members in Boulder will be able to report environmental code and zoning violations online.

"We're hoping it will streamline things for us," Jody Jacobson, spokeswoman for the City of Boulder's Public Works Department, told the Colorado Daily Thursday.

Jacobson said individuals will be able to report a suspected violation online by giving a date, location, and description of what has been witnessed.

"The newest feature," according to Jacobson, is the ability of a photograph of a suspected violation to be included with the report.


Between January 1, 2005 and April 30, 2005, according to the City of Boulder Planning and Development Services data, the Hill received a total of 257 complaints and 231 field contacts, meaning violation findings by environmental enforcement officers.

Overall, the Hill received the most summonses at 84, over Martin Acres, Goss-Grove and East Aurora.

Stephen DePuy, code enforcement supervisor, said the high number of violations is because of the high concentration of students.

"I think the biggest reason is because there is a high turnover on the student population there and a high concentration of rental units and these are just the sorts of things that college students that decide to live on the Hill just don't think about," said DePuy.

With so many violations on the Hill, DePuy said it can be hard to keep up with all of the work that has to be done with only two environmental enforcement officers.

He said the new system will hopefully give the officers more time to be out in the field rather than talking to individuals with complaints on the phone.

"I think it will balance out," said DePuy. "We'll see more complaints coming in this way, but we'll have fewer calls that need to be made in order to clarify the situation, I'm hoping, so maybe we'll be able to use that desk time as fuel time instead."

Even with it being easier to file complaints, DePuy said he does not think people will abuse the system by inundating the system with complaints.

DePuy said the new system will not affect students too much, and many agree.

Kate Flanagan, the neighborhood relations director for the University of Colorado Student Union (UCSU), said the online reporting will not have a negative effect on students, but might have a positive effect.

"I don't think it is going to be an impact students will even notice," said Flanagan. "If anything it will make the students more aware that they do need to keep up on keeping their houses clean."

Jan Otto, a member of the University Hill Neighborhood Association (UHNA), said it is an improvement.

"The new system will allow the Environmental Enforcement officers to be more effective. The new system prompts people to enter complete data on the first contact, which should go a long way towards reducing the amount of time spent on callbacks," said Otto.

Otto also said that providing pictures will allow the officers to decide what should take priority.

Otto did not think the online system would lend to an increase in reports.

"I think, because this system will enable the EEO personnel to do their job more effectively, that this is an improvement," said Otto. "Anything that helps the City get more done without spending more money is an improvement, in my opinion."

original story:
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2005/05/12/news/news01.txt